A quantitative risk assessment method for synthetic biology products in the environment

EcoGenoRisk: Developing a computational ecological risk assessment tool for synthetic biology

The expanding field of synthetic biology (synbio) supports new opportunities in the design of targeted bioproducts or modified microorganisms. However, this rapid development of synbio products raises concerns surrounding the potential risks of modified microorganisms contaminating unintended environments. These potential invasion risks require new bioinformatic tools to inform the design phase. EcoGenoRisk is a newly constructed computational risk assessment tool for invasiveness that aims to predict where synbio microorganisms may establish a population by screening for habitats of genetically similar microorganisms. The first module of the tool identifies genetically similar microorganisms and potential ecological relationships such as competition, mutualism, and inhibition. In total, 520 archaeal and 32,828 bacterial complete assembly genomes were analyzed to test the specificity and accuracy of the tool as well as to characterize the enzymatic profiles of different taxonomic lineages. Additionally, ecological relationships were analyzed to determine which would result in the greatest potential overlap between shared functional profiles. Notably, competition displayed the significantly highest overlap of shared functions between compared genomes. Overall, EcoGenoRisk is a flexible software pipeline that assists environmental risk assessors to query large databases of known microorganisms and prioritize follow-up bench scale studies.

Exploring the Impact of Tensions in Stakeholder Norms on Designing for Value Change: The Case of Biosafety in Industrial Biotechnology

Synthetic biologists design and engineer organisms for a better and more sustainable future. While the manifold prospects are encouraging, concerns about the uncertain risks of genome editing affect public opinion as well as local regulations. As a consequence, biosafety and associated concepts, such as the Safe-by-design framework and genetic safeguard technologies, have gained notoriety and occupy a central position in the conversation about genetically modified organisms. Yet, as regulatory interest and academic research in genetic safeguard technologies advance, the implementation in industrial biotechnology, a sector that is already employing engineered microorganisms, lags behind. The main goal of this work is to explore the utilization of genetic safeguard technologies for designing biosafety in industrial biotechnology. Based on our results, we posit that biosafety is a case of a changing value, by means of further specification of how to realize biosafety. Our investigation is inspired by the Value Sensitive Design framework, to investigate scientific and technological choices in their appropriate social context. Our findings discuss stakeholder norms for biosafety, reasonings about genetic safeguards, and how these impact the practice of designing for biosafety. We show that tensions between stakeholders occur at the level of norms, and that prior stakeholder alignment is crucial for value specification to happen in practice. Finally, we elaborate in different reasonings about genetic safeguards for biosafety and conclude that, in absence of a common multi-stakeholder effort, the differences in informal biosafety norms and the disparity in biosafety thinking could end up leading to design requirements for compliance instead of for safety.

Ecological and human health risk assessment

The literature review presented in this paper includes the ecological and human health risk assessment in the form of receptors in the environment. The main objective of this review to highlight a summary of the many studies undertaken in the year 2019. The first part of the review covers the papers published on the health risk assessment related to human and ecological health. This article focuses on methods and tools utilized for the analysis of scientific studies and the data. The review provides main issues such as interpretation of data, uncertainty, and policies related to the management of risks. The ecological and human health risk assessment is divided into two main sections. Each of these sections presents in broad the risk assessment process namely pollution studies, remediation, and tools required for the management of natural resources and the environment.

Alternative Strategies for Microbial Remediation of Pollutants via Synthetic Biology

Continuous contamination of the environment with xenobiotics and related recalcitrant compounds has emerged as a serious pollution threat. Bioremediation is the key to eliminating persistent contaminants from the environment. Traditional bioremediation processes show limitations, therefore it is necessary to discover new bioremediation technologies for better results. In this review we provide an outlook of alternative strategies for bioremediation via synthetic biology, including exploring the prerequisites for analysis of research data for developing synthetic biological models of microbial bioremediation. Moreover, cell coordination in synthetic microbial community, cell signaling, and quorum sensing as engineered for enhanced bioremediation strategies are described, along with promising gene editing tools for obtaining the host with target gene sequences responsible for the degradation of recalcitrant compounds. The synthetic genetic circuit and two-component regulatory system (TCRS)-based microbial biosensors for detection and bioremediation are also briefly explained. These developments are expected to increase the efficiency of bioremediation strategies for best results.

Exposure risk assessment of nine metal elements in Chongqing hotpot seasoning

Atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS) were used to analyze the contents of nine metal elements (Pb, As, Hg, Cd, Cr, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn) in 100 groups of Chongqing hotpot seasoning (CHS). Meanwhile, Crystal Ball software based on Monte Carlo simulation technology was used to assess the exposure risk of the nine metal elements in CHS for people of different ages in Chongqing. In general, the average Hazard Index (HI) of the nine metal elements is 0.306 < 1, indicating no non-carcinogenic risks from these nine elements for inhabitants of Chongqing under the current consumption level of CHS. Children (ages 7–13) and adult women have higher chronic daily intake (CDI) than adult males. The carcinogenic risk of Pb, As and Cd are within the acceptable risk level (10⁻⁶ to 10⁻⁴). The sensitivity analysis suggests that the contents of the nine metal elements and daily intake (PIR) in CHS were positively correlated with the risk index, while the body weight was negatively correlated with the risk index. This study provides a scientific basis for guiding the safe consumption of Chongqing hotpot, and provides a theoretical basis for the development of safety-compliant CHS quality standards.

Atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS) were used to analyze the contents of nine metal elements (Pb, As, Hg, Cd, Cr, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn) in 100 groups of Chongqing hotpot seasoning (CHS).